Arborescent shrub or small tree to 8 m, with intricately thorny branches; lvs firm, mostly rounded or truncate to subcordate at base, rather broadly ovate or deltoid to rhombic or elliptic, with shallow lateral lobes, mostly 2.5-6 נ2-5 cm, usually glabrous from the first; petiole 1/3 to nearly as long as the blade; fls 1.2-2 cm wide, in small, nearly simple, glabrous cymes; sep narrow, entire or nearly so; fr red or sometimes greenish, mostly 1-1.5 cm thick, with prominent, usually elevated cal; nutlets (2)3-5; 2n=51, 68. Nf. to N.C., w. to Wis. and Okla. (C. compacta; C. crawfordiana; C. disjuncta; C. franklinensis; C. gattingeri; C. gaudens; C. jesupii; C. leiophylla; C. mackenzii; C. milleri; C. platycarpa; C. porteri; C. rugosa; C. virella)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.